Development of a New Approach to Cumulative Effects Assessment: A Northern River Ecosystem Example

Dubé, Monique G.; Johnson, Brian; Dunn, Gary; Culp, Joseph M.; Cash, Kevin J.; Munkittrick, Kelly R.; Wong, Isaac; Hedley, Kathlene; Booty, William G.; Lam, David; Resler, Oskar; Storey, Alex

doi:10.1007/s10661-005-9098-0

Cited by 40 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In practice, if ecological effects are detected, the stressors causing the effects must typically be identified (US EPA 2000;Dubé 2003); therefore both indicator types may be required to diagnose causes of, and model, ecosystem changes (Smit and Spaling 1995;Jones et al 2002;Dubé 2003;Dubé et al 2006). P42: As a minimum, CEA must determine who specified VECs matter to, why they matter, how much they matter, how VECs will be effected by a specified set of activities, whether effects will be important given the past and present condition of the VEC, and what, if anything, could make up for any loss or damage to the VEC (Therivel and Ross 2007).…”

Section: Logical Connections Among Cea's Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative effects assessment: theoretical underpinnings and big problems

Jones

2016

Environ. Rev.

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Cumulative effects assessment (CEA) is a sub-discipline of environmental impact assessment that is concerned with appraising the collective effects of human activities and natural processes on the environment. Aspirations for CEA have been expressed by many authors since 1969, when the foundation of environmental appraisal was laid by the US National Environmental Policy Act. This paper's purposes are (i) to review aspirations for CEA, relative to current practice; and (ii) to fully explain and critique the logic that connects CEA's operational steps and underlying philosophies. A literature review supports the following statements: Some conceptualizations emphasize the delivery of information to support decision making as the key purpose of CEA; others deem collaboration, debate, and learning as most important. Consensus on CEA's operational steps has been reached, but each step requires practitioners to make analytical decisions (e.g., about the scope of issues to include or the time horizon to consider) and objective rules for how to approach those decisions are lacking. Numerical methods for assessing cumulative effects are largely available, meaning that CEA's biggest problems are not scientific. CEA cannot succeed without substantive public engagement, monitoring, and adaptive management. CEA is best undertaken regionally, rather than project-byproject. CEA and planning are complementary, and should be merged. In its most enlightened form, CEA is a useful tool for ensuring that human undertakings ultimately conform to Earth's finite biosphere, but current practice falls short of the ideal, and CEA's logical derivation is not entirely sound. As regards CEA's big problems, sustainability has not been defined clearly enough to make criteria for judging the significance of cumulative effects indisputable; legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks are poorly aligned for CEA; and objective criteria for judging the adequacy of CEA's scope, scale, and thresholds do not exist, which makes the question of how to provide general guidance to practitioners intractable. Recommendations call for sustainability goals to be clearly expressed as measurable targets. Furthermore, precaution in human enterprise should be exercised by avoiding, minimizing, restoring, and offsetting negative cumulative effects. CEA can assist by quantifying and optimizing trade-offs.Key words: environmental impact assessment, planning, environmental management, sustainability, conceptual model, precautionary principle.Résumé : L'évaluation des effets cumulatifs (EEC) est une sous-discipline de l'évaluation de l'impact sur l'environnement qui porte sur l'évaluation des effets collectifs des activités humaines et des processus naturels sur l'environnement. De nombreux auteurs ont exprimé leurs aspirations quant à l'EEC depuis 1969, le moment où les fondements de l'évaluation environnementale ont été jetés par le « National Environmental Policy Act » aux États-Unis. Les buts de cette étude sont (i) d'examiner les aspirations quant à...

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Section: Logical Connections Among Cea's Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cumulative effects assessment: theoretical underpinnings and big problems

Jones

2016

Environ. Rev.

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“…Overcoming challenges set forth by scaling issues, diverging views, different policies and legislations, and complex ecological pathways is in itself the main challenge for those who try to carry out an effective CEA (Gunn and Noble 2011;Seitz et al 2011). Examples of effectsbased CEAs in the boreal zone include the Moose River Basin study (Munkittrick et al 2000), Northern Rivers Basin study (Culp et al 2000), Northern Rivers Ecosystem Initiative (Dubé et al 2006), and Athabasca River Basin study (Squires et al 2009). Seitz et al (2011) suggest that regional CEAs should take a multiple stakeholder approach, with government assuming leadership to establish management objectives as well as compliance and effectiveness monitoring at the regional basin scale.…”

Section: Cumulative Effects and Nonlinear Threshold And Tipping Poimentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts and prognosis of natural resource development on water and wetlands in Canada’s boreal zone

et al. 2015

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Industrial development within Canada's boreal zone has increased in recent decades. Forest management activities, pulp and paper operations, electric power generation, mining, conventional oil and gas extraction, nonconventional oil sand development, and peat mining occur throughout the boreal zone with varying impacts on water resources. We review impacts of these industries on surface water, groundwater, and wetlands recognizing that heterogeneity in the dominance of different hydrologic processes (i.e., precipitation, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, and runoff generation) across the boreal zone influences the degree of impacts on water resources. Through the application of best management practices, forest certification programs, and science-based guidelines, timber, pulp and paper, and peat industries have reduced their impacts on water resources, although uncertainties remain about long-term recovery following disturbance. Hydroelectric power developments have moved toward reducing reservoir size and creating more natural flow regimes, although impacts of aging infrastructure and dam decommissioning is largely unknown. Mineral and metal mining industries have improved regulation and practices, but the legacy of abandoned mines across the boreal zone still presents an ongoing risk to water resources. Oil and gas industries, including non-conventional resources such as oil sands, is one of the largest industrial users of water and, while significant progress has been made in reducing water use, more work is needed to ensure the protection of water resources. All industries contribute to atmospheric deposition of pollutants that may eventually be released to downstream waters. Although most industrial sectors strive to improve their environmental performance with regards to water resources, disruptions to natural flow regimes and risks of degraded water quality exist at local to regional scales in the boreal zone. Addressing the emerging challenge of managing the expanding, intensifying, and cumulative effects of industries in conjunction with other stressors, such as climate change and atmospheric pollution, across the landscape will aid in preserving Canada's rich endowment of water resources.Key words: natural resources, development, hydrology, biogeochemistry, cumulative effects, water quality, water quantity. Résumé :Le développement industriel dans la zone boréale canadienne s'est accru au cours des récentes décades. Les activités en aménagement forestier, les opérations dans les pâtes et papiers, la génération de pouvoir électrique, les mines, l'extraction de l'huile et du gaz conventionnel, le développement non conventionnel des sables bitumineux ainsi que le prélèvement de la tourbe s'effectuent sur l'ensemble de la zone boréale avec divers impacts sur les ressources hydriques. Les auteurs passent en revue les impacts de ces industries sur l'eau de surface, l'eau souterraine et les terrains humides, tout en reconnaissant que l'hétérogénéité de la dominance des différents processus ...

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“…(1) a measure of direct or indirect response to cumulative impact (e.g., change in distribution, fecundity, abundance) (Dubé et al, 2006); or (2) a prediction of impact (Halpern et al, 2007). CIAs require information on: the relative magnitude and impact of pressures on the receiving environment; the spatiotemporal distribution of pressures and environmental features; and, the additive, synergistic or antagonistic interactions between multiple pressures (Grech et al, 2015).…”

Section: Risk Analysis and Prioritizationmentioning

confidence: 99%